


What The Hell Granger?!

by Sun_Spark



Series: Numb3rs: Colby & David & Demi-Asexual Shenanigans [1]
Category: Numb3rs (TV)
Genre: Angry Don is Angry, Can be Slash, Clueless Colby Granger, Colby/David, Comedy, Confrontations, Confusion, Demisexual Character, Demisexual Colby Granger, Demisexuality, Episode: s05e03 Blowback, Family, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Goofy - Freeform, He Chills, Hurt/Comfort, I Dont Know How To Tag RN Please Help, I am making it so, Loneliness, Lynn Potter, M/M, Negotiation of needs, No Im not projecting what are you talking about, Numb3rs - Freeform, Numb3rs Season 5, Partnership, Post-Episode: s04e01 Trust Metric, Sort Of, Spoilers: Episode s04e01 Trust Metric, Team Dad Don Eppes, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Touch-Starved, can be gen, how tf do you tag when you havent slept in three days?, mentioned - Freeform, spoilers: Episode: s03e24 The Janus List, that is a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-23 07:48:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23008141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sun_Spark/pseuds/Sun_Spark
Summary: Don finds out about Colby's slip up with Lynn Potter and, despite David trying to stop him, confronts his second youngest agent. And though Colby makes no excuses, Don wasn't prepared to be confused by the nuances of 'got in bed with' didn't 'sleep with', nor were he and David prepared for the very honest answer of why it happened. Loneliness. Touch Starvation. Emotional Isolation. Maybe instead of firing his agent, Don needs a contingency plan to keep him from having another bad day like that.This is the least serious of the fics I have planned, so it goes up first. Let's see if the Numb3rs fandom is as dead as all the murder victims on the show.
Relationships: Colby Granger/David Sinclair, can be gen - Relationship, kind of - Relationship
Series: Numb3rs: Colby & David & Demi-Asexual Shenanigans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985776
Comments: 20
Kudos: 29





	What The Hell Granger?!

**Author's Note:**

> I fudged with the timeline a tiny bit to move the Lynn Proter episode closer to the Chinese spy thing, since that was my perception when I first watched it.

“ _What the **hell** Granger?!_” So much for getting some air outside the office during the last fifteen minutes of his break. Colby turned to see his boss coming up to him practically in flames from how angry he was, David trailing behind him, somehow looking like he was running to keep up with Don’s fast walk, and seeming to try to talk Don down.

“To what exactly are you referring Don?” He wasn’t playing dumb, but he honestly wasn’t sure what it was. And given Don’s temper, it could be an explosion of a minor thing that became ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’ or it could be ‘you’re arrested for treason’ again.

“Don’t play that shit with me! Lynn Potter!”

Ah, that explained why David looked both anxious and guilty, and like he’d just chased Don to try and talk him down. He probably had. “That. I fucked up, if you want to fire me, I won’t argue.”

“Colby-!” David’s retort was cut short by Don’s raised hand, though his furious gaze never left Colby’s abnormally calm features. “What the hell was going through your head that you screwed a suspect?!”

Colby’s head tilted to the side just the tiniest bit, his nose crinkling in confusion. “I didn’t?”

Don blinked at him, David staring at him like he’d lost his mind. Don’s hand dropped, along with his voice, as his eyes narrowed. “You’re telling me you didn’t have sex with her?”

Colby blinked at him in an almost puppy-like manner. “No...” He said it like it should be obvious, voice higher and quiet in confusion as the word trailed out just a bit too long.

Don’s jaw ticked to the side, mounting frustration obvious. “You telling me you didn’t get in bed with her?”

“No, I did that.”

Muscles jumped in Don’s temples and jaw and Colby actually considered backing away from the man like a frightened child before he completely blew up. David’s confused furrowed brows and unsure voice stopped him. “Wait…you got in bed with her and just, what? Cuddled?”

Blue-green eyes blinked under furrowed brows as they met squinting deep brown that were staring at him like a particularly confusing puzzle. “And talked, yeah.”

David’s extreme confusion and dawning questions went unnervingly silent as slightly alarmed eyes snapped back to their boss, Don, who was leaning closer to Colby rather aggressively and practically glaring. “Laid in bed and…talked?” No one spoke in the interim, in fact, neither Colby nor David really breathed nor looked away from the man. “What the hell possessed you to get in bed and chat with a suspect Granger?”

Colby’s shoulder curled inward ever so slightly, as his eyes tracked the paving stones. His voice went higher but not outside of his normal tenor as he attempted a joke. “You sure you **_really_** wanna know Don?”

Don’s lean came forward a centimeter more, the beginnings of a growl coloring his words. “Yeah, Granger, I do.”

Colby looked up at Don with an almost helpless look in his eyes, like he wasn’t sure how to put this. “Does it really matter? It’ll just end up sounding like an excuse anyway.”

Don’s lips pulled back into a little snarl, startling Colby who, somehow, did not show any sign of it and David who looked like he was having a silent argument with himself about finding Megan to diffuse the ticking time bomb that was Don.

“I don’t give a damn what it sounds like, I wanna know why.” It was a testament to years undercover, and Army training before that, that Colby didn’t flinch at the deathly ice-cold tone of Don’s lowered voice.

“Loneliness…?” Colby shrugged as if to say ‘I don’t know how to say this’. “Emotional need?”

David blinked at him, facing scrunching up at the edges. Don pulled back ever so slightly and lessened his glare down to a stare. He seemed almost shocked that, of all things, **_that_** was the answer. Frustration and anger came barreling back quickly. “And you had to get into bed with a suspect for that?!”

Don’s harsh tone seemed to jolt Colby and his hands came up in another shrugging or searching motion, words tumbling out quickly and hinting at the first signs of distress. “Does it excuse what I did or make it any better? No, I still crossed a line. But you wanted the honest answer and that’s it: I needed an emotional connection, so did she, and I said yes because I was having a bad day in a rough spot. Sex was never the intention for either of us. We laid in bed together and watched a fan turn in circles or the leaves outside and we talked, not about anything special, but nobody had to lie and nobody had to hide!” He stopped the ever-quickening speech abruptly, eyes widening as his mouth snapped shut.

David was staring at him, mouth agape, while Don’s features smoothed out abruptly as he took in what Colby had just said. Just as abruptly, he realized when the case had happened: Not that long after Colby had come back to life from a midsea grave on a Chinese freighter. His anger wasn’t gone, but it had faded into something calmer as he considered one of his youngest agents. “You hadn’t even admitted that to yourself, had you?” It came out surprisingly gentle from Don, and it startled a small unsure laugh from Colby, rubbing at the back of his neck self-consciously as he answered: “No…I hadn’t.” 

Don sighed heavily and rubbed at his eyes with one hand. “I’m still pissed, damn am I still pissed. But you could have told us something like that instead of saying you ‘got in bed with her’ and letting us think you meant you’d slept with her. Might have made me a little less angry before this conversation.”

Colby just blinked at him slowly, like a child that didn't understand why the adult was missing the obvious. “What I did wasn’t any less serious or any less of a violation of the regulations.”

Don blinked at him wearily. “Yeah it is, just a little bit. You shouldn’t have done it, but I can more easily excuse this to a director, or myself, as comforting a distraught witness who is also a suspect. I can’t exactly do that with sex.” Don’s eyes narrowed again, but not as hostily. “You **_didn’t_** have sex with her?”

Colby shook his head in a negative. “That was never the intention on either side.”

Don was suspicious, but not in the ‘I’m pissed and I’m probably gonna beat someone’ type of way, more that ‘I’m a big brother and I know when you’re giving me shit’ type of way. His narrowed stare practically screamed it. “And for two hours it didn’t become an intention?”

Colby’s brows furrowed as he shook his head, staring at Don like he couldn't understand the disconnect they were having. Behind Don David’s shoulders suddenly slumped as he brought a hand to his eyes and muttered an exasperated: “You have got to be kidding me.”

Don and Colby looked at him, the former a little impatiently. “What David?”

The man in question looked up at Don, mouth open as if to say something, “Just remembered…" His gaze shifted to Colby. "I’m not sure I should tell you Don. Not my story to tell.” Don’s gaze also turned to Colby and the younger man shrugged and made a vague ‘go ahead’ gesture that David interpreted as permission. “Colby’s…Demi. You told me that before, didn’t you?” He’d nudged a hand and his chin towards Colby when he asked, a small gesture that did not make contact but was meant as a comfort, a 'you're not being singled out', and the man nodded slightly.

Don looked between them before settling on David, the latter, catching his look, continued. “It’s a form of asexual. Everything’s kind of centered around emotions, sex doesn’t become an interest without them, and in that case they have to be long-standing and extremely strong – Not the type of emotional bond you’d form in a few days, much less a few hours. Like I said, everything is centered in emotion, and side effect is for most of them- at least to Colby’s experience*- is that they get kind of… depressed if they go without an emotional -connection for a long time. I mean, in that case it doesn’t have to be romantic, it can be family, or friends, but if they don’t have it, they can start to feel... well sick was the term he used, but I’m pretty sure he meant depressed, isolated.” He gestured towards Colby, quoting his earlier statement in an almost sad tone. “Lonely.”

Don’s gaze shifted back to Colby, curious and more patient now. “Is that true Colby?”

Colby, having been staring at the ground in mild embarrassment, nodded. Don sighed quietly enough probably only David heard before taking a calm deep breath and leaning forward less threateningly. “Tell me what happened, Colby.” He said softly.

Colby’s arms hugged at himself, fingers worrying the elbow’s reached with arms crossed over his midsection. He didn't like being this vulnerable, had been taught by too many years not to be. His gaze didn’t raise from the ground, but his voice, though it was soft, did not waver. “I always forget that normal people-.” He was cut off by David’s stern “ ** _Colby._** ” in warning. He glanced up and met his partner’s eyes, twisting his nose as if to stick out his tongue, but he didn’t, almost a sneer but not quite that serious. The message was still the same and quite clear. “ ** _Non-Ace people_** ” he paused again as he and David exchange the sibling-esq expression at this longstanding correction. Don rolled his eyes and looked pointedly at Colby to get on with it. “would resort to sex in situations like that.” He sighed as his gaze fell again. “I felt…lonely, isolated, like David said, and it hit a point it physically hurt. I ignored it, knew it would go away, but that day I was having a bad day inside the rough several weeks when it kept getting worse. I…I don’t know…I just couldn’t force myself to walk away when that connection was offered. Got the sense it was the same for her.”

Grey and Brown eyes stared at the blonde who’s blue-green remained on the ground, gazes varying shades of shock and sympathy and ever lessening anger. Finally, Don sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright. Line: Crossed. No denying that. But there is definitely framing. No one needs to know anything more than ‘Colby stayed with and provided emotional support to a distraught witness during a case’.” He dropped his hand and glanced at Colby then, seeing the man’s eyes still downturned, looked skyward as if to pray for patience to whatever deity made him the ‘dad friend’ and boss of an FBI team. “Colby. You still feel isolated?”

He glanced down in time to catch Colby’s eyes coming up to meet him. He saw the beginnings of an answer on the younger man’s barely parted lips and he shot him a look that warned him away from lying. It had worked on Charlie for most of their childhood, and sure enough, Colby’s mouth snapped shut the little bit it had been opened and he hesitated before answering. “Not…as much.”

Don just stared at him for a moment, then turned to David. Like some demented animatronic he pivoted the few inches it took to switch between facing David or facing Colby a handful of times, eyes shifting between them in turn. The two stared at him in mild, and barely hidden, shock and disbelief edging on concern. Finally, he stopped. “Right.” He put a finger up. “No one’s getting fired.” He pointed at Colby. “No more finding emotional support in witnesses or suspects.” His finger did a rough circle, pointing at each of them in turn, as well as gesturing towards the office. “And **_nobody_** ,” He pointed at Colby, giving David a pointed stare. “lets him get to ‘Isolation Levels’ of lonely again!”

Colby stared at him in some mixture of incredulous and surprised while David let out a breath that sounded like a relieved mix of a scoff and a laugh. The latter grinned wearily at his boss and past him at his partner. “Yeah, I think we can manage that.”

Colby’s nose twisted again but he didn’t make a move to say anything. Don saw it all the same and a less annoyed more exasperated finger got pointed at the younger. “Oh no! You do **_not_** get to complain! My team. My rules.”

Colby just huffed lightly and Don nodded concisely, as if he’d just settled a court case or an argument or something. “Right then. Murder to solve, let’s go.” He turned on his heel and walked back towards the building with the same speed but none of the angry fire of before. Colby stared at him with barely concealed whiplash at how many directions that confrontation had gone. David watched Don’s retreating back for a moment then looked at his partner and he couldn’t help the gentle chuckle that fell from his lips. He slid an arm over the slightly shorter man’s shoulders and grasped his opposite arm, gently pulling him closer and tighter to him than strictly necessary. “Come on Granger.” He didn’t drop his arm as they began to follow after Don. To anyone watching it was casual, but not to them as they both knew that Colby was just shy of touch-starved. David swallowed his own guilt at forgetting his partner’s slightly odd needs that he had used to willingly and happily take care of. Silently he promised himself, and Colby, that he’d go back to the casual touches and affectionate banter they had kept up before things had been torn apart.

**Author's Note:**

> *This is my personal experience as a DemiAce, but I haven’t met a lot of other Demi’s so sorry if it’s just an ‘I’m weird thing’ and not a Demi thing. For me, I need a strong emotional tether at all times, not because I am clingy or emotional but because I am just shy of touch starved (to my understanding of the condition), and in the absence of a romantic partner that becomes (in a platonic way) focused on my friends and family. If it seems to be lacking and I start to feel isolated, I can get extremely depressed and ‘lonely’ and it hurts with an ache for physical affection. It doesn’t happen often, but since I’m writing Colby as DemiAce, I figured the whole reintegration into the team thing would be one such instance.


End file.
